Vehicle, display method, and program

ABSTRACT

A vehicle includes a display device that is visible from a front side, a measurement unit configured to measure a distance between the vehicle and a front vehicle which travels in the same direction as the vehicle, and a display control unit configured to horizontally invert display content on the display device based on the measured distance.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/774,405filed Jan. 28, 2020, which claims priority from Japanese PatentApplication No. 2019-028497 filed in Japan on Feb. 20, 2019. Thedisclosure of each of the prior applications is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The disclosure relates to a vehicle, a display method, and a program.

2. Description of Related Art

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-232460 (JP 2014-232460A) discloses a vehicle that displays an advertisement on the front sidethereof.

SUMMARY

However, when an advertisement is displayed on the front side of avehicle and a distance between the vehicle and a front vehicle is short,the advertisement may be covered by the front vehicle and thus it may bedifficult for an oncoming vehicle or a pedestrian to see theadvertisement. As a result, opportunities for the advertisement to berecognized are reduced.

This problem is considered to occur in the same way when informationother than an advertisement is displayed.

The disclosure is for increasing opportunities for information which isdisplayed on the front side of a vehicle to be recognized.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a vehicleincluding: a display device that is visible from a front side; ameasurement unit configured to measure a distance between the vehicleand a front vehicle which travels in the same direction as the vehicle;and a display control unit configured to horizontally invert displaycontent on the display device based on the measured distance.

Accordingly, information which is displayed on the front side of thevehicle can be seen in its original direction in a rearview mirror of afront vehicle.

As a result, it is possible to increase opportunities for informationwhich is displayed on the front side of the vehicle to be recognized.

The vehicle according to the aspect of the disclosure may furtherinclude a determination unit configured to determine whether there is aperson facing the vehicle. The display control unit may be configured toinvert the display content regardless of the distance when there is afront vehicle and there is no person facing the vehicle.

Accordingly, information which is displayed on the front side of thevehicle can be seen in its original direction in a rearview mirror of afront vehicle.

As a result, it is possible to increase opportunities for informationwhich is displayed on the front side of the vehicle to be recognized.

In the vehicle according to the aspect, the display control unit may beconfigured to additionally change a size of the display content based onthe distance.

Accordingly, it is possible to change the size of a display contentwhich is visible in a rearview mirror of a front vehicle based on adistance from the front vehicle.

As a result, it is possible to increase opportunities for informationwhich is displayed on the front side of the vehicle to be recognized.

In the vehicle according to the aspect of the disclosure, the displaycontent may include text.

Accordingly, text which is displayed on the front side of the vehiclecan be seen in its original direction in a rearview mirror of a frontvehicle.

As a result, it is possible to increase opportunities for text displayedon the front side of the vehicle to be recognized.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided adisplay method of causing a vehicle including a display device that isvisible from a front side to perform: a measuring process of measuring adistance between the vehicle and a front vehicle which travels in thesame direction as the vehicle; and a display process of horizontallyinverting display content on the display device based on the measureddistance.

Accordingly, information which is displayed on the front side of thevehicle can be seen in its original direction in a rearview mirror of afront vehicle.

As a result, it is possible to increase opportunities for informationwhich is displayed on the front side of the vehicle to be recognized.

According to still another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided aprogram causing a vehicle including a display device that is visiblefrom a front side to perform: a measuring process of measuring adistance between the vehicle and a front vehicle which travels in thesame direction as the vehicle; and a display process of horizontallyinverting display content on the display device based on the measureddistance.

Accordingly, information which is displayed on the front side of thevehicle can be seen in its original direction in a rearview mirror of afront vehicle.

As a result, it is possible to increase opportunities for informationwhich is displayed on the front side of the vehicle to be recognized.

It is possible to increase opportunities for information which isdisplayed on the front side of a vehicle to be recognized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance ofexemplary embodiments of the disclosure will be described below withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals denotelike elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of avehicle 40 according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof an onboard device 10 according to the embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of the onboard device 10 according to the embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process routine whichis performed by the onboard device 10;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an advertisement;and

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an advertisementwhich is horizontally inverted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the disclosure will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustratingan example of a configuration of a vehicle 40 according to an embodimentof the disclosure. In FIG. 1 , the vehicle 40 includes an onboard device10, a camera 20, and a display device 30.

The camera 20 is installed in the vehicle 40 to capture an image of anarea in front of the vehicle 40, and captures an image of an area infront of the vehicle 40. The camera 20 may be, for example, a driverecorder or a camera which is installed to support driving.

The display device 30 is a device that displays display data (forexample, image data). For example, a liquid crystal panel may be used asthe display device 30. The display device 30 is installed in the vehicle40 such that it is visible from the front of the vehicle 40. In thisembodiment, content of display data (display content) is anadvertisement including a character string.

The onboard device 10 is an information processing device to which animage captured by the camera 20 is input, which recognizes circumstances(a distance from a front vehicle) in front of the vehicle 40 based onthe image, and changes a display mode of display data in the displaydevice 30 based on a result of recognition.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof the onboard device 10 according to the embodiment of the disclosure.The onboard device 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes an auxiliarystorage device 101, a memory device 102, and a central processing unit(CPU) 103 which are connected to each other via a bus B.

A program for realizing processes in the onboard device 10 is installedin the auxiliary storage device 101. The auxiliary storage device 101stores the installed program and stores necessary files, data, or thelike.

When an instruction to start a program is given, the memory device 102reads a program from the auxiliary storage device 101 and stores theread program. The CPU 103 performs functions associated with the onboarddevice 10 in accordance with a program stored in the memory device 102.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of the onboard device 10 according to the embodiment ofthe disclosure. In FIG. 3 , the onboard device 10 includes a displaycontrol unit 11, a detection unit 12, a measurement unit 13, and adetermination unit 14. These units are realized by causing the CPU 103to execute one or more programs installed in the onboard device 10.

The display control unit 11 controls display of an advertisement on thedisplay device 30. The detection unit 12 detects the presence of a frontvehicle traveling in the same direction as the vehicle 40. Themeasurement unit 13 measures a distance from the front vehicle which isdetected by the detection unit 12. The determination unit 14 determineswhether an advertisement is to be horizontally inverted based on thedistance.

A process routine which is performed by the onboard device 10 will bedescribed below. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of aprocess routine which is performed by the onboard device 10. The processroutine illustrated in FIG. 4 is started, for example, in response to aninput of an instruction to display an advertisement to the onboarddevice 10. The display instruction may be input by an occupant of thevehicle 40 or may be automatically input in response to ignition ON orthe like.

In Step S101, the display control unit 11 displays an advertisement onthe display device 30.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an advertisement.In FIG. 5 , the character string “roasted sweet potato” is displayed asan advertisement on the display device 30.

Subsequently, the detection unit 12 monitors whether there is anothervehicle traveling in the same direction as the vehicle 40 in front ofthe vehicle 40 in real time, for example, by analyzing an image which iscaptured by the camera 20 (S102). A vehicle traveling in the samedirection as the vehicle 40 is not limited to a front vehicle whichtravels in the same lane as the vehicle 40. For example, when thevehicle 40 is traveling on a road including a plurality of lanes such asan expressway or a national road, a front vehicle which is traveling inanother lane qualifies as a vehicle traveling in the same direction asthe vehicle 40.

When the detection unit 12 detects that there are one or more frontvehicles traveling in the same direction as the vehicle 40 (YES inS102), the measurement unit 13 measures a distance X from a frontvehicle which is closest to the vehicle 40 (that is, a front vehiclewhich travels immediately in front of the vehicle 40 and which ishereinafter referred to as a “front vehicle A”) out of the one or morefront vehicles (S103). Measurement of the distance X may be performed,for example, by analyzing an image which is captured by the camera 20.Alternatively, the distance X may be measured by a known method using asensor other than the camera 20. For example, the distance X may be aninter-vehicle distance or may be a distance between a specific positionof the vehicle 40 and a specific position of the front vehicle A.

Subsequently, the determination unit 14 determines whether the distanceX is equal to or less than a threshold value a (S104). The thresholdvalue a may be, for example, an upper limit of a distance at which, whenthere is an oncoming vehicle, a pedestrian, or the like in front of thevehicle 40, the oncoming vehicle, the pedestrian facing the vehicle 40,or the like cannot see the display device 30 of the vehicle 40 due tothe presence of the front vehicle A. The pedestrian facing the vehicle40 or the like includes a person who can see the display device 30 ofthe vehicle 40 such as a person who rides on a bicycle or a motorbike.“Facing the vehicle 40” refers to facing a direction in which thedisplay device 30 of the vehicle 40 is visible.

When the distance X is equal to or less than the threshold value a (YESin S104), the display control unit 11 horizontally inverts anadvertisement which is displayed on the display device 30 (S106).

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an advertisementwhich has been horizontally inverted. In FIG. 6 , the character string“roasted sweet potato” illustrated in FIG. 5 is horizontally invertedand displayed. In this case, “roasted sweet potato” is visible in thestate illustrated in FIG. 5 in a rearview mirror of the front vehicle A.As a result, when an occupant of the front vehicle A looks at theadvertisement in the rearview mirror, she or he can see the characterstring “roasted sweet potato” in a state in which it is not horizontallyinverted, and thus can easily see the advertisement. The display controlunit 11 may additionally change the size of a character string of anadvertisement based on the distance X in order to improve visibility ofthe advertisement in the rearview mirror of the front vehicle A.Specifically, as the distance x increases, the character string may beincreased in size.

On the other hand, when the distance X is greater than the thresholdvalue a (NO in S104), the determination unit 14 determines whether thereis an oncoming vehicle or a pedestrian facing the vehicle 40 or the likein front of the vehicle 40 (S105). This determination may be performedby analyzing an image which is captured by the camera 20 or may beperformed by another known method.

When there is no oncoming vehicle or pedestrian facing the vehicle 40 orthe like in front of the vehicle 40 (NO in S105), the display controlunit 11 horizontally inverts the advertisement displayed on the displaydevice 30 as illustrated in FIG. 6 (S106). That is, when there is thefront vehicle A and there is no pedestrian facing the vehicle 40, theadvertisement may be horizontally inverted regardless of the distance X.

On the other hand, when there is an oncoming vehicle or a pedestrianfacing the vehicle 40 or the like in front of the vehicle 40 (YES inS105) and when the advertisement is horizontally inverted and displayedat the present time (YES in S107), the display control unit 11 returnsthe direction of the advertisement to the original direction (that is,horizontal inversion of the advertisement is released) (S108). As aresult, the advertisement is displayed as illustrated in FIG. 5 .

In this way, when there is a front vehicle A and there is an oncomingvehicle or a pedestrian or the like who can see the advertisement, theadvertisement may be displayed in the original direction. Accordingly,it is possible to display an advertisement such that the oncomingvehicle or the pedestrian or the like can easily understand theadvertisement.

When the determination results of Steps S106 and S107 are negative, orsubsequently to S108, the onboard device 10 repeatedly performs StepS102 and steps subsequent thereto until an instruction to stop displayof an advertisement is input (S109). The instruction to stop display ofan advertisement may be input, for example, by allowing an occupant ofthe vehicle 40 to perform a predetermined operation on the onboarddevice 10 or may be automatically input by ignition OFF or the like.

An example in which an advertisement is constituted by a characterstring has been described above, but the embodiment may be applied to anadvertisement which is constituted by a figure or an image other than acharacter string.

An example in which information which is displayed on the display device30 (display content) is an advertisement has been described above, butthe embodiment may be applied to a case in which information other thanan advertisement is displayed as display content.

As described above, according to the embodiment, when a distance from afront vehicle is equal to or less than a threshold value, informationwhich is displayed on the front side of the vehicle 40 is horizontallyinverted. Accordingly, the advertisement can be seen in the originaldirection in a rearview mirror of a front vehicle. As a result, it ispossible to increase opportunities for the information to be recognized.

While an embodiment of the disclosure has been described above indetail, the disclosure is not limited to such a specific embodiment andcan be modified or changed in various forms without departing from thegist of the disclosure described in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle comprising: a display device that isprovided at a front side of the vehicle and is visible from the frontside of the vehicle by non-occupants of the vehicle located in front ofthe vehicle; a measurement unit configured to measure a distance betweenthe vehicle and a front vehicle which travels in front of the vehicleand in a same direction as the vehicle; a determination unit configuredto determine whether there is a person facing the front of the vehicle;and a display control unit configured to control the display device toselectively display content in an upright orientation and in ahorizontally inverted orientation based on the distance measured by themeasurement unit, the display control unit being configured to displaythe content in the horizontally inverted orientation when the frontvehicle is detected and the determination unit determines that there isno person facing the front of the vehicle.
 2. The vehicle according toclaim 1, wherein the display control unit is configured to additionallychange a size of the content that is displayed based on the distancemeasured by the measurement unit.
 3. The vehicle according to claim 1,wherein the content that is displayed includes text.
 4. The vehicleaccording to claim 1, wherein the display control unit is configured to:cause the display device to display the content in the uprightorientation when the front vehicle is not detected.
 5. The vehicleaccording to claim 1, wherein the display control unit is configured to:cause the display device to display the content in the uprightorientation when (i) the front vehicle is detected, (ii) the distancemeasured by the measurement unit is greater than a predeterminedthreshold, and (iii) the determination unit determines that there is theperson facing the front of the vehicle.
 6. The vehicle according toclaim 1, wherein the display control unit is configured to: display thecontent in the horizontally inverted orientation when the front vehicleis detected regardless of the distance measured by the measurement unitwhen the determination unit determines that there is no person facingthe front of the vehicle.
 7. A display method of causing a vehicleincluding a display device that is provided at a front side of thevehicle and is visible from the front side of the vehicle bynon-occupants of the vehicle located in front of the vehicle to perform:a measuring process of measuring a distance between the vehicle and afront vehicle which travels in front of the vehicle and in a samedirection as the vehicle; a determination process of determining whetherthere is a person facing the front of the vehicle; and a display processof controlling the display device to selectively display content in anupright orientation and in a horizontally inverted orientation based onthe distance measured by the measuring process, the display processdisplaying the content in the horizontally inverted orientation when thefront vehicle is detected and the determination process determines thatthere is no person facing the front of the vehicle.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 7, wherein the display process additionally changes asize of the content that is displayed based on the distance measured bythe measuring process.
 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein thecontent that is displayed includes text.
 10. The method according toclaim 7, wherein the display process causes the display device todisplay the content in the upright orientation when the front vehicle isnot detected.
 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the displayprocess causes the display device to display the content in the uprightorientation when (i) the front vehicle is detected, (ii) the distancemeasured by the measuring process is greater than a predeterminedthreshold, and (iii) the determination process determines that there isthe person facing the front of the vehicle.
 12. The method according toclaim 7, wherein the display process displays the content in thehorizontally inverted orientation when the front vehicle is detectedregardless of the distance measured by the measuring process when thedetermination process determines that there is no person facing thefront of the vehicle.
 13. A non-transitory computer-readable recordingmedium on which is recorded a program that, when executed by a computer,causes a vehicle including a display device that is provided at a frontside of the vehicle and is visible from the front side of the vehicle bynon-occupants of the vehicle located in front of the vehicle to perform:a measuring process of measuring a distance between the vehicle and afront vehicle which travels in front of the vehicle and in a samedirection as the vehicle; a determination process of determining whetherthere is a person facing the front of the vehicle; and a display processof controlling the display device to selectively display content in anupright orientation and in a horizontally inverted orientation based onthe distance measured by the measuring process, the display processdisplaying the content in the horizontally inverted orientation when thefront vehicle is detected and the determination process determines thatthere is no person facing the front of the vehicle.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13,wherein the display process additionally changes a size of the contentthat is displayed based on the distance measured by the measuringprocess.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable recording mediumaccording to claim 13, wherein the content that is displayed includestext.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable recording mediumaccording to claim 13, wherein the display process causes the displaydevice to display the content in the upright orientation when the frontvehicle is not detected.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readablerecording medium according to claim 13, wherein the display processcauses the display device to display the content in the uprightorientation when (i) the front vehicle is detected, (ii) the distancemeasured by the measuring process is greater than a predeterminedthreshold, and (iii) the determination process determines that there isthe person facing the front of the vehicle.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein thedisplay process displays the content in the horizontally invertedorientation when the front vehicle is detected regardless of thedistance measured by the measuring process when the determinationprocess determines that there is no person facing the front of thevehicle.